A-Jay

Started out Workout Day 4 with the Cable Sissy Squat. Always gets my attention. Prior to adding this movement to my training, I had been having some minor but nagging Knee pain. At this point, it has completely resolved. I am a Big Fan of that ! #borninfiftynine A-Jay

Pre-Frontal bassing has some risk. During a career on the water, it was part of my job description, but not anymore. Mostly. A-Jay

Wasn't sure, but apparently A few mushrooms can still be found on Maine's forest floor. Might be a long winter. A-Jay

If two of my most productive patterns, GG Perch OB and M Western Clown could be crossed ~ M ENDMAX might be the result. A-Jay

Keep it rolling. I had a very in shape instructor once in the service that told me he could make me sweat in the Olympic pool we were training in. I opened my big mouth and bet him he couldn't. Dinner was on me that night. A-Jay

Slow, steady and consist. You will surprise yourself. We all suffer set backs. Use them to motivate. As bass fisherman our hobby is sitting at home unless we are fishing. Having fitness as a life style or 'Hobby' It's with us 27/7/365. Hard to measure all the benefits. Stay Safe A-Jay

Rarely see them during the day (plenty on the game cams at night) but a huge Buck just ran through my front yard. Scare the heck out of my wife and the dogs lost it of course. He was moving pretty fast so it was hard to tell, but looked like an 8 maybe even a 10 pt. Very odd. Tomorrow is open day here rifle season. That one would be a shooter I'm pretty sure. 🦌 A-Jay

Everything in moderation, including moderation. @J Francho quote I believe, but I like it. No amount of exercise can ever over come a destructive diet or lifestyle. Workouts by the decade for me . . . In my 20's it was easy and fun. In my 30's I got stronger and figured a few things out. In my 40's I was all about being super lean. In my 50's everything slowed down. Proper Diet & recovery became more important. In my 60's I'm fighting every day to get enough calories, but not too much, to get enough sleep & hydration, and to ensure that I'm making pre-workout warm ups a priority. I do all of this to be fit for life. So Far so Good. Yesterday I was working with 450 lbs for reps. at 65 yrs old and a body weight of 165 lbs. Not weight belt - no wrist wraps. https://youtu.be/F65IlIvGsXo?feature=shared&t=47 Strength is a perishable skill. Benefits including but are not limited to improvements in bone density, connective tissue strength & flexibility, maintaining whatever muscle I may have left, improvements in confidence, balance and self image. Don't see any of that as destructive. There's plenty of commitment here too. https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/borninfiftynine A-Jay

Anyone else struggling with big bass? My 5 heaviest Smallmouth this year were the best in a few years. 31.23 lbs which included a 7.05, 6.48, 6.26, 5.86, & 5.58 lbs. Personally, I've been fishing for quite a bit longer than 6 years with some success. So after 50 years and then some, I've come to some conclusions regarding success with big fish of any species; including bass. Some of these came pretty early on, a few some time after that and a few have been realized more recently. A good majority of these lessons revolve around me, my expectations, my approach and my over all mind set. So for what it's worth, this is what I got. Depending on what one considers a Big Bass, (a scale or bump board helps keep track) true big bass are hard to find and catch. Which means 'struggle' is an inescapable aspect of the sport. Learning to manage my expectations and results and not to measure them against what other anglers might be doing, (internet anglers, You Tube anglers, Bass Resource Anglers etc.) can be very helpful. Fishing my own way in the conditions I'm faced with. Each season / year is different and one has Nothing to do with the other. So past results are fun to remember and share, they have virtually zero bearing on what happens this or the next season/year. Sometimes I can catch big bass in the same place at the same time of year and even on the same baits. But not always. And this is when I'm likely to start to 'feel' like the fishing's bad, or I'm struggling. When in realty something's changed and now I need to figure out how to over come that. I've done it successfully many times over, and I'll do it again. If and when I don't chose to do that, these are times when my fishing feels like a struggle. Understand there's no time limit on it. My hours, days, weeks, months and even years on the water, mean nothing to the big bass as they are not interested in or even on my schedule. So to me, that's the essence of bass fishing. Going into each year with an open mind and a clean slate, allows a me to be far more willing to change it up. Really helps if I actually expect this to be the norm rather than an unusual occurrence. Where in the past I would beat up the same water for way too long, doing the same thing for way too long resulting in the famous crash & burn scenario. That "Change" can and often does include, a totally different and or new body of water, and or a different and new approach. Again, more time- but it's fishing time. So it's the good stuff. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (for now anyway) Fish Hard A-Jay

Workout Day 3 this morning. First 2 working set of the Rack Pull were pretty intense. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

It something folks who live in areas that generally don't experience Hurricanes, Floods, Sink Holes, Land Slides & Wild Fires do right before Holliday season. Stay Safe. A-Jay

I am liking that deal What's that hook ? A-Jay

Asking us again why many folks don't fish for money. A-Jay

That's good to hear. Complete life style changes that last forever at any age, are THE HARDEST for many many humans. Reality IMO is, you're going to live somehow, might as well not be destructive. I'm not going to wish you good luck, because luck has nothing to do with it. It's all up to you and your willingness to have more self control. A-Jay

Nope, I get it. A-Jay

Been a braid to leader basshead with spinning gear for a while now. I did 'try' to use FC on a spinning reel once. Once. If you Look up 'Crash & Burn', you'll no doubt see my picture holding that reel and the twisted mess of line that was supposed to be on the spool. So, back to braid I went and have never looked back. As noted in previous replies here, there are very few down sides to it. Some point to the connection knot, but I've been having success with a uni-to uni knot for a very long time. I can tie it confidently & effectively morning, noon and night, rain or shine, hot, cold & windy. May have even done it a few times under water. A generous leader length is the secret sauce. YMMV A-Jay

You Sir, are a true inspiration. Nice bass and hope you can get to feeling better soon. Stay Safe A-Jay

Returning to structure once found on electronics ~ @Scherbacj I fished for several years using a very similar process as you mentioned above. Sometimes It worked out. Often it was an exercise in futility, especially on big bodies of water, marking fairly small targets and in less than ideal conditions. I've all but abandoned that methodology. So instead of dropping a way point directly on anything I want to fish, I put ALL my waypoints where the boat needs to be located to fish that particular deal effectively. A couple of points of interest; It keeps me off the fish, I may have to mark a coupe of spots at each 'end' of a target, to account for wind, waves or current. As for 'initially finding' them and re-locating them. Once I go over or by them I'll put my pin right there just for reference. I might leave it and fish there or I might discover a better location and erase that one and use the new one. Really helped clean up my units of what I can only designate as BS way points. This is a work in progress as last season I erased nearly 1,000 way points collected over several years on several lakes, that were admittedly a Helter Skelter collection of only half usable deals. So I started from scratch using the above method. Has worked out well so far and the mantra is "Trust the Way Point. Good Luck A-Jay

Rod is a 7' MF St Croix Avid And the reel is a Daiwa Tatula MQ LT 3000D-CHX Spinning Reel It's pictured below. Seen here as a topwater deal, However I use the same rig for jerkbaits, including the line & leader combination Finally, while this IMO is a most decent set up, A basshead can do very well with a less expensive rig. It's not the arrow, it's the Indian. Good Luck A-Jay

For standard & smaller sized jerkbaits I'm about 93.7 % spinning. (That might even be a little low, especially that .7) I blame the wind and being such a novice caster. When it is spinning, I go Light Braid mainline with a pretty long light FC or mono leader. Bigger jerk baits (think LC 128) usually end up on casting gear, with straight 12 FC. Either way, not sure spinning/casting matters all that much, as long as the gear is matched & balanced with the bait. Still a treble hook bait and sometimes those hooks a pretty small. Something to take into account for sure. A-Jay https://youtu.be/W2jqCf7BVAE?feature=shared

Thank You. Somebody had to do it ! A-Jay

Workout Day 2 on this Veterans Day. Thank You to all my Brothers & Sisters in arms. #borninfiftynine A-Jay